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Don't worry, I promise not to spam you or send you any promo garbage. If you see my name pop up in your inbox, please know it will be with something that truly excites me and that I honestly believe will make a positive impact in your life.

Have you ever been faced with a difficult decision in your life, that you know deep at your core what you already need/want/desire to do, but you find yourself coming up with every excuse in the book to put that decision off or to do something first, instead?

With the infinite amount of possibilities with which we can communicate, why - for the most part - do we end up choosing such negative, limiting and condescending patterns of communication towards ourselves and others?

The message this week is going to be short and sweet - simply because I am about to go take my own advice and get out in nature, turn my phone off and spend some quality time with my pup, with a commitment to think *less* about everything I haven't accomplished and *more* about how far I've actually come.

I know, I know - this time of year can also be a bit overkill. If you've read any of my previous blog posts, you'd know I don't think you should wait for January 1st to make positive change in your life. However, I geek out at any opportunity to spend more time learning how I can elevate my potential in both my personal and my professional life, so this time of the year always gets me going.

I’m not one for New Year’s Resolutions - I am more of the mindset that if you want to make a change in your life, do it immediately and don’t wait. However, the reason why I love this time is because it’s the one time of the year when it is collectively encouraged to reflect upon our previous year and consciously think about how we want to be better human beings.

Today's topic is a bit different than usual, friends! My message is pertaining to a very special initiative that I am involved in and today, I'm asking for your help.

For those of you know me personally or are some of the incredible friends, family members or clients that have joined me on the journey, then you know it's time for our annual "Love Has No Color" Christmas on the Reservation trip down to the Fort Peck Reservation in Poplar, Montana.

After spending a couple of days witnessing women from various stages of their lives and businesses decidedly step into their power towards creating a life on their terms (regardless of the fears that pop up along the way) - I was inspired. (How could you not be?) It got me thinking about just how many people are waking up to lives that don't bring them joy.

Sometimes when individuals jump on clarity calls - they'll ask how I differ from a counsellor, a therapist or a regular life coach. I am neither better, nor worse than your typical life coach - I am simply capable of helping my clients go from where they are to where they want to be, and I have a very contrarian approach to doing so, and it all begins with these in-person soul sessions. While the bulk of our work together is online and our calls can occur from anywhere in the world, I insist that every client who works with me experiences at least one.

On a recent clarity call, a potential client asked me an interesting question.

She started by sharing, "I don't know if you work with people like me, Sarah. I don't think I fit in the typical "niche" you work with."

I replied, "Try me."

She got into it - she shared, "I feel embarrassed and ashamed to even reach out to you, and I'm even more worried that you'll say no. I've tried other avenues of support. But nothing else has worked." She paused, then inhaled deeply.

Do you ever get really amped up to start something new or to make positive change in your life, but as soon as the excitement hits, it's followed *very quickly* by a double-shot of self-doubt and insecurity?

It started just over a year ago when I announced publicly on my social media channels that I had started my own Lifestyle and Wellness Coaching business. I immediately started to feel panic and anxiety rocket through my body. Not because I was overwhelmed with the work it would entail or that I was nervous I would fail, but the biggest hinderance that had been preventing me from sharing it publicly was the concern that people would judge me.

I am on the road for a few weeks fully immersed in high-level training from my own coach so I can continue to be operating at my highest level for the incredible human beings I get to work with. (Also getting in the zone and preparing for some upcoming, private 1:1 off-site Soul Sessions with my clients whose crazy-inspiring levels of commitment won't let even distance prevent them from reaching never-before levels of personal power.)

There aren't words that can adequately describe our experience on the Fort Peck Reservation last week.

As some of you know, twice a year a group of health & wellness practitioners and I volunteer our time at the Fort Peck Reservation by supplying the children with backpacks full of school supplies, food for the families, games, chiropractic adjustments, naturopathic treatments and a ton of other amazing activities and games for everyone.

Recently, someone very near and dear to me approached me with a difficult conversation that was causing her to feel both uncomfortable and anxious. She was dreading having it with me and had been avoiding it for years. She thought I might be upset or offended. She thought it would destroy our friendship. She was actually sweating when she brought it up. Her voice wavered. Her hands shook.

Last weekend, I was asked to speak to over 100 young girls ages on self-esteem, overcoming obstacles and living authentically at a women's youth empowerment day.

I was told the group would range between the ages of 8 - 12, which - I was surprised to notice - caused me to feel slightly anxious. You see, I have never really interacted with girls at this age before. I don't have any nieces or nephews and I don't know many people (that I see on a regular basis) that have children that age. I had no context of how best to keep them interested, inspired or engaged.

As a part of my journey since becoming a life coach, I have spent a lot of my time immersed in books, podcasts, various personal development resources and working with my own coach, trying to develop a deeper understanding as to what makes people suffer and how to help them fall back in love with their lives and themselves.

In part 1 of "What to do when you're offered unsolicited advice" I shared my experience with an old friend that reached out to me to remind me of (in her opinion) what was the true formula for a happy and successful life and made it quite apparent that I was missing out. And, the words I left you with at the end of Part 1 are the same words I want to start this post with.

Recently, a very old friend of mine reached out to reconnect. This was someone with whom I grew up and was quite close with, at one point in my life. Eventually, as we got older, our friendship faded (as they sometimes do). There was no animosity or disagreements of any sort, we simply drifted apart as we realized our priorities and direction in life were veering off onto separate paths.

I'm currently sitting at the Atlanta airport getting ready to board my plane to Toronto. In the last 10 days, I've had some pretty incredible shifts that are starting to occur around the work that I do and the people that I want to help at a deeper and more meaningful level. I hadn't anticipated that some of those lessons would come from an Uber driver named Terrance.

Recently, I had the incredible privilege of doing something that, before this year, I would have been terrified to do. That was before I created a statement of truth that I repeat to myself every morning when I wake up: "There's nothing that I can't do and there's no problem that I can't solve." - and that was to do some life coaching with some inmates at a prison.

Lately I've been glued to my computer for a few too many hours in the past few weeks. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore it and feel so much gratitude each and every day for the work that I get to do, but given that I am someone that helps women take back control of their lives and learn how to prioritize their own self-care and wellness, work on their self-worth and the compassion they feel towards themselves, then I know that it's extra important for me to be fully rested and on my A-game so I can be in a position to help other women do the same.

Recently I have been gearing up to launch something pretty exciting that I've been spending a lot of time on. And while I know good things take time, I can be a bit impatient when I have an exciting idea I want to share with my clients, my tribe or with the world. So I found myself focusing more on my frustrations, my challenges and the little hiccups in the road, versus the incredible opportunities and all of the amazingness I have going on in my life.

A really great thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I removed the word "risk" from my vocabulary, and it felt fairly amazing. It was easier than I thought it would be. Especially since I have allowed the word "risk" to dictate a lot of the decisions I've made in my life.

I wrote a very private and personal email to the tribe the other week about a bit of a nerve-wracking and stomach lurching thing I did at one of my previous events, that has since allowed me to move on from some long ago feelings of jealousy that I needed to release.

It seems as though in the past few weeks, I've been getting asked more frequently why and how I could have possibly left my safe, secure and promising career in the sports marketing industry for one that isn't safe, isn't secure and doesn't pay for benefits or my phone bill.